That moment when Red State Trump voters read about the guy they elected for the first time.

It’s not just coastal Twitter elites obsessed with FIRE AND FURY: Totally sold out in Missoula, Montana. Bookstore owner told me even Costco sold out immediately.

Paul Krugman (at his best): "Faust on the Potomac"

..................

Early on, some speculated that this would be a temporary alliance – that establishment Republicans would use Trump to get what they wanted, then turn on him. But it’s now clear that won’t happen. Trump has exceeded everyone’s worst expectations, yet Republicans, far from cutting him loose, are tying themselves even more closely to his fate. Why?

The answer, I’d argue, is that they’re stuck. They knowingly made a deal with the devil, and can’t back out.

More specifically, Trump’s very awfulness means that if he falls, the whole party will fall with him. Republicans could conceivably distance themselves from a president who turned out to be a bad manager, or even one who turned out to have engaged in small-time corruption. But when the corruption is big time, and it’s combined with obstruction of justice and collaboration with Putin, nobody will notice which Republicans were a bit less involved, a bit less obsequious, than others. If Trump sinks, he’ll create a vortex that sucks down everyone involved.

And so we now have the Republican party as a whole fully complicit in Trump’s crimes – because that’s what they are, whether or not he and those around him are ever brought to justice.

What this means, among other things, is that expecting the GOP to exercise any oversight or constrain Trump in any way is just foolish at this point. Massive electoral defeat – massive enough to overwhelm gerrymandering and other structural advantages of the right – is the only way out.



the rest:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/05/opinion/faust-on-the-potomac.html

Rachel Maddow: New statement from Fusion GPS re: GOP "Political Stunt"

@maddow

New statement from Fusion GPS -- note the reference to the release of Simpson's 10 hour transcript...

Breitbart is trolling Trump for failing in spectacular fashion

New Yorker cartoon: Incoming

This might be the truest sentence in the whole book.

EXACTLY

Hmmmmmmmmmmm

@jaketapper
Source close to White House tells me that Bannon was “aware of the fact that WH counsel misled POTUS about his authority to fire Comey” — which was in NYT story last night — and notes that the NYT story appeared after POTUS began attacking Bannon publicly. 🤔
https://twitter.com/yashar/status/949302447184465920

HE HAS TAPES - Michael Wolff just singlehandedly extended the Mueller investigation.

Michael Wolff just singlehandedly extended the Mueller investigation. DC and NY are one party consent jurisdictions. He has tapes of statements by Sr. WH officials that may corroborate or conflict with statements made under oath to Mueller, raising the liklihood of perjury.

DC Bookstore Sells Out Trump Tell-All In Minutes -